Did Jesus come back from the dead?
Bill Fearnehough
Over 100 years ago a large meteorite fell in Siberia. There were very few direct observers; most of them were simple peasants; some of them got vaporised. Later there was a discovery of a great, cratered area, thousands of square miles of fallen trees, fragments of meteoric materials. Very few people could actually verify the incident itself, but huge evidence remained to be gradually analysed and a firm conclusion was drawn - a huge meteorite had struck the earth.
The historical truth and significance of many events is often only seen afterwards, when their effects results are observed. Take the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the world today, one third of the total population acknowledge in their religious creed that Jesus rose from the dead. The world dates A.D., or the common era, from the birth of Jesus. The whole world has a seven day week. Why? Because the Judeo Christian traditions teach that that is how God planned it for men. These things would never have come to be without the huge influence of the work of Jesus' followers in every age, who proclaimed Him as their risen, living God. If, as many people state, the resurrection of Jesus never happened, it must be the most successful and long lasting con job that was ever pulled.
The documentary evidence
There is impressive documentary evidence that Jesus arose from the dead. The carefully compiled eyewitness accounts are written in realistic and convincing terms. They show how the actual witnesses had to come to grips with this unbelievable truth, which they first found hard to understand and believe. They were finally convinced that Jesus rose from the dead.
In the Bible itself there is a challenge to those who did not believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and spoke to the 500 or so living witness who met with Him. A minister who ate a daffodil in the pulpit in front of a large congregation demonstrated this. Later a person might say 'our minister ate a daffodil in the pulpit on Sunday.' People might not believe him, but he had 500 fellow witnesses to back him up. Incidentally, as corroborating evidence, he might also say that the minister felt quite ill afterwards, as daffodils are somewhat poisonous!
Our look at the evidence
We can look at the same evidence today. Christians as part of this church today are part of that evidence. Very soon, in our next hymn, we shall sing about Jesus' resurrection. I have the documents in my hand now - the Bible. Is it a con or is it the truth? The evidence is before you.